Hanging out

On Saturday my sister Charity sent me a text message asking if she could come visit from NY. I was SO excited to see her but a little bummed that she would be here before Andrew's arrival.... Andrew was up for the challenge though. He came HOURS before she did. ;) Charity brought along her god-daughter, Miko. Miko and my big boys have been having a lot of fun playing together and Charity has been an incredible help. I'm so grateful for how that timing worked out!

Charity is a bit more adventurous than I am... Here is Andrew...

And here is Cameron, a mere 18 months ago. :)

A rare sighting of those dark eyes.

Another favorite hospital picture. One of my favorite parts about coming home from the hospital is getting to cut off all their wrist/ankle bands. Then I feel like they're really mine.

Blessed Auntie Cher. We would be lost without her.

Miko. This girl should be a professional poser. I think she looks like Olivia from the Cosby Show.

Cameron trying on Charity's shoes... C is still impartial to the baby, so long as he still has full access to me. Love my crazy little boy. He's looking so big!

We're a sleepy lot around here these days.

Home

We've made it home! Horray! I did my best to appreciate the quiet time alone in the hospital, but it's divine to be back home with ALL my boys.


So... If you think Andrew's arrival took YOU by surprise, you may imagine my surprise waking up just past midnight Monday morning, looking at the clock, looking at it again every 3-5 minutes for about 20 minutes and realizing "oh my! he's coming!" I called my dear friend Carolyn to come over, called the doctor, and we left... even before Carolyn got here (though we passed her on the way out). I was wise to heed my mom's warning 'as soon as you know you're in labor, GO." By the time I got to the hospital the contractions were rolling one of top of the other and I was proclaiming to all that I was 'seriously going to DIE.' My hat off to all the 'natural' goers... I myself survive by the epidural alone, even if I was painfully (LITERALLY) disappointed in the effectiveness of this most recent one. In any case.. he's here and he's gorgeous. He has such a calm disposition thus far, but we'll see how that wears off in the next couple weeks. MANY THANKS to all of the FB and blog comments. It's incredible to feel the love. Many thanks also to those who have helped and offered their help. We appreciate it!

Andrew Alan Hancock

6lbs 1.2oz, 18 1/2 inches, 4:40am

Thankfully all of the boys have their daddy's nice tan complexion.

I adore this picture.

So... How did the big boys react to their new brother?

Cameron was really almost more interested in the buttons on my bed. He's been very impartial thus far. I think that'll change real quick as he sees who is getting priority in momma's arms.

William, on the other hand, was beside himself! So excited for "Baby Andrew" and "Baby Brofer!"

"Here Mommy, I hold baby Andrew!" I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on him. He's a bit too hands on. As I type, he's sharing a toy car with him and giving him bisous. Shortly before this picture was taken W kept saying "here, Andrew! Give me nais bisous!" (eskimo kisses).

Three boys. I can hardly believe that I am the mother of 3 children. I'm incredibly blessed (and maybe a little crazy).

Middle of the night labors sure take their toll on everyone. Nathaniel hasn't had quite the same opportunity to recoup that I have had. haha! Poor tired papa!

Bonus photo (free of charge! wow!)

Welcome to the world, little Andrew!

Snow and Potty Training

Alright-- here are the last of the snow pictures... until tomorrow anyway.

Icicles outside the nursery window... right before I knocked them all down. We didn't clean our gutters (naughty homeowners!) and I'm a bit nervous.

This is our back fence! That, friends, is some crazy snow. It's melted quite a bit since then, but not enough for us to venture out back anyway.

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So... a few weeks ago William was running around in his diaper and Nathaniel made the comment, "Ya know. He's starting to look too big for a diaper." And. He is. I've always just written off potty training (until this coming summer) because I don't think that he's quite ready yet, along with a number of other reasons (new baby and move coming up...). I still don't think that he's quite ready, but I still borrowed a book from a friend and I've decided to get the ball rolling. My goal isn't to get him trained by a certain time, but just to get the ideas going in his head. For kicks yesterday I put on his Thomas underwear. So funny. Cameron naturally needed to wear some too, though he kept wanting to wear it as a hat. It was hilarious. They kept looking at each others bums so they could see the trains and just dancing around. Such silly boys keep us well entertained!

My little monkey Cameron climbs all the way up on this stool and then yells out "I stuck!!" It terrifies me that he's going to fall. He's such a monkey!

The Thomas Underwear Dance.

Our growing boy. I can't believe he'll be 3 next month. He's dang smart too! Knows every single letter of the alphabet (thank you iPhone apps!)! I feel so lucky to be a mom. Many days, I go crazy at some point or another, but genuinely, I can't imagine anything better than having these little monsters in my life.

Trial run over...

Well... that 100 reader limit kinda cramped our style, and the style of friends who wanted to blog stalk. haha! Thanks for being willing to test it out with us.

In other news... I'm 36 weeks today. Cameron came at 36 weeks 1 day. I think that Andrew will stay put longer, and that's good. I like my babies chubby.

Stuck Indoors...

Blizzard '10 part 2 hit today. Holy smokes, what a mess out there. Cameron really wanted to go out in the storm. He kept going to the front door and saying "ow-sigh" (aka outside), and "pweese!" So precious. I felt bad keeping him in, but I was sure that I would lose him in a minute out there with the crazy snow and wind. I've never in my life seen a storm like this! But with William, I was confident that he could weather the storm... especially in his bright yellow dinosaur rain jacket that he wears over his regular coat. He happily played outside for hours today while Nathaniel (bless his heart forever) diligently shoveled our driveway/walk, Donna's driveway, and another neighbors sidewalks THREE different times today. Our hero!
Here's how we're doing our best to keep busy while stuck inside. Not pictured is Thomas the Train rounding the tracks hundreds of times, or the many hours of PBS/Backyardigans/Muppet Christmas Carol playing on the TV.

This snow makes for such great light coming into the house! What a cute little monkey.

Mid-tantrum.

Sweet baby boy fell asleep on N's shoulder.

Then his cruel mother moved him to the floor to try to get some better pictures of him...

... and woke him up. Poor kid. One day he'll recover from the trauma I've caused him and forgive me. ;)

A view of our back porch. The snow actually was much higher yesterday.

Snow part 2:

Cameron was determined to get out in that snow, so after most of the our side walks were shoveled we let him out. He couldn't get far, and he surely couldn't get lost! He was trapped by snow at either end of the side walk.

Cameron's best attempt at walking in the snow that was as high as his shoulders.

After all the fun in the snow, I asked N to get the bath ready for the boys. Cameron was downstairs when the water started and when he heard it he darted up. N was in the other room when he heard Cameron laughing... and found this. The boy loves his bath.

For all you non-East Coast dwellers...

...who are wondering how our storm is going:

Home Sweet Home.
We woke up to TONS of snow! And it's still coming down. We're gonna have a fun snow-filled weekend. It's kind of a bummer because this was going to be our first Sunday in our new church building, and now it will more than likely be canceled. When I got outside I realized that the snow was MUCH deeper than I had thought. Poor Cameron will probably need to stay inside. I think that most of the snow would go up to at least his shoulders if not his head. This much snow might even put Utah on edge!

William LOVES being out in the snow. Unfortunately, every single store I've been in ALL season long has failed to have any toddler size snow mittens/gloves. The poor kid is stuck with knit ones that get wet pretty quickly. He's a tough one though. He'll still stay out there for hours with our sweet neighbor kids who pull him on their sleds.

Our sweet neighbor Donna. This blessed creature comes out after every snow storm to shovel her driveway and walk. Kills me and Nathaniel! Our goal every storm is to get out before her so we can get her driveway done. Sweet woman.

Donna's car and driveway.

We planned ahead this time and had our car in the driveway so when (or if) the snowplow comes today, it will be out of the way!

Even the boys car (way up on our porch) got snowed in! ;)

The wind carried the snow all the way up to our front door.

See our back fence and fancy patio furniture?

This tree doesn't look very happy. Poor thing needs a good shaking to get the snow off.

Rental

Well, friends. As much as we love and adore our home, this summer we're packing up! We've decided to take a 3-year detour abroad! Know anyone looking to rent a great house in a fabulous location?? If so, please pass along our blog link for the house!

large & in charge

Right, so here is the obligatory belly shot (34 weeks). Enjoy, friends. These are the first and last you'll see this time around. I think they're funny. I have my days where I feel like... what was the saying we used in HS?....a bloated sea cow?... HUGE, anyway. And then I have days where I think, 'ahh, I don't look so bad'! But there are pictures now. And there is no denying that there is a BEACH BALL (aka Andrew) in my belly.

I'm not much of a poser, so N was making me laugh to take these pictures... which is why my mouth is open in them all. Oy.

Silly Mommy tried to get a shot of both her boys as they were looking SO handsome before church and with their cheeks still rosy from the snow. Cameron had a melt down when I put him up on a little table to get them in some better light. Poor little guy is exiting the fearless stage and becoming increasingly wary of things that didn't phase him before (ie dogs).

William performing the "itsy bitsy spider"